Place the fish in a baking dish and squeeze a lime half over it. Add the garlic, cumin, chili powder, and 1 tablespoon of the oil. Season with salt and pepper and turn the fish in the marinade until evenly coated. Refrigerate and let marinate at least 15 minutes. Meanwhile, make the slaw and warm the tortillas.

Combine the cabbage, onion, and cilantro in a large bowl and squeeze a lime half over it. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary; set aside.

Warm the tortillas by heating a medium frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tortilla at a time, flipping to warm both sides, about 5 minutes total. Wrap the warm tortillas in a clean dishcloth and set aside while you prepare the fish.

Brush the grates of a grill pan or outdoor grill with oil and heat over medium-high heat until hot. Remove the fish from the marinade and place on the grill.

Cook without moving until the underside of the fish has grill marks and is white and opaque on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Flip and grill the other side until white and opaque, about 2 to 3 minutes more. (It’s OK if it breaks apart while you’re flipping.) Transfer the fish to a plate.

Taste the slaw again and season as needed with more lime juice. Slice the remaining lime halves into wedges and serve with the tacos. To construct a taco, break up some of the cooked fish, place it in a warm tortilla, and top it with slaw and any optional garnishes.

The original recipe came from chowhound,com and I made some minor adaptions to suit our preferences.

2. Heat a grill pan or basket over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and black pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook for 2 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Remove onion and bell peppers from bag, and discard marinade. Add onion mixture to pan; cook for 6 minutes or until tender, turning after 3 minutes. Toast tortillas in pan, if desired. Place 2 tortillas on each of 4 plates, and divide chicken mixture evenly among tortillas. Divide onion mixture evenly among servings. Garnish with jalapeño slices. Serve with salsa, sour cream, and cilantro, if desired.

Recipe adapted from www.cookinglight.com

Open-Faced Barbeque Chicken Melts

Makes 3 slices

Since I make bone broth a lot, I have chicken meat that I canned. This worked well for this recipe or you could use leftover chicken meat as well. I love a good zingy barbeque sauce and since most of the store-bought versions have less than desirable ingredients, it’s super easy to make your own.

This kind of sandwich really is easy to adapt to anything that your family likes or has on hand for that matter. I had a couple mushrooms that needed to be used, therefore they got added, but if you don’t like them, don’t use them. It’s that easy and easy for a quick lunch or supper.

3 slices sourdough bread or buns, cut in half

1 ½ cups cooked and shredded chicken, pasture-raised

2 organic mushrooms, sliced

Barbeque sauce to your liking, recipe as follows

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ onion, diced

1 cup homemade ketchup or a good organic one

½ cup sorghum or molasses

1/3 cup organic sucanat or brown sugar

4-5 tablespoons chili peppers or jalepenos, chopped

4 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Pinch of unrefined sea salt

4-6 ounces freshly grated raw milk cheese, whatever your favorite is

In a cast-iron skillet, heat the oil over medium-heat. Add the garlic and onions and cook for approx. 5 minutes, stirring so as not to burn them.

Reduce the heat to a low setting and add the ketchup, sorghum or molasses, sucanat, peppers, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and salt to taste and stir.

Let this simmer together for 2-25 minutes. Taste when done and adjust taste to your liking, more salt or sugar. This is a good recipe to make ahead of time and have on hand for those times when you want to barbecue your meat or add sauce to your dishes.

Once the sauce is done, or if you made ahead of time, as I like to do, the sandwich melt becomes quick and easy.

In a bowl, add the chicken, the mushrooms, additional onion, if you like or any other add-ins your family likes. Mix in enough sauce to coat the meat to your liking.

Place the sourdough bread slices or open face sourdough buns on a baking sheet or stone and add your barbeque meat to the top. Pile on as much as you like.

Sprinkle the top with cheese, again as much or little as you like and bake for 10-12 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted. I did this at 375 degrees but you could do at 350 for 5-8 minutes and switch to broil and brown the cheese, either works great. It’s really a matter of preference.

Beef Stew (Garlic and Rosemary style)

Serves 6-8

In our house my husband Tom usually makes the beef stew. It’s really nice that he likes to cook and he’s actually good at it. Stew is one of his favorite wintertime comfort foods.

A tradition that started when the kids got to be teenagers, was that they got to pick what they had or what restaurant they went to for their birthdays. This carried over to Tom and me as well.

This year, Tom decided he wanted to stay home, not go anywhere and he was planning to make stew and black raspberry pie.

I decided to surprise him and make the stew for him, hoping that it meant his stringent standards, as he’s the pro stew-maker in our house.

Side note: He did make the pie, a few days before, so I decided to make the Peach Cobbler as his birthday treat, per our daughter, Ashlie’s request.

I put this in the crockpot, but if you wanted to cook on the stovetop, it would work just fine too! This smelled sooooooo good cooking. Hope you enjoy as much as we did.

4-5 medium sized organic carrots

4-5 stalks organic celery

1 medium organic onion

4-5 medium organic potatoes

2-3 tablespoons olive or avocado oil

4-5 cloves organic garlic

2 pounds grass-fed stew meat

Unrefined sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste

1/3 cup unbromated, unbleached flour

2 cups beef bone broth

1 ½ tablespoons spicy brown mustard

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon organic tamari sauce

1 tablespoon organic sucanat

½ tablespoon dried rosemary, or fresh if you have it

½ teaspoon dried thyme or a 2-3 fresh sprigs

Wash your produce and chop the celery, carrots, and onion. Cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces and put into the bottom of your crockpot or pan.

Add the flour, salt and pepper into a mixing bowl and add the stew meat and toss to coat the meat.

In a large cast-iron skillet, heat the oil and add the garlic, cooking about a minute or so. Add the floured meat, along with the rest of the flour in the bowl. Let the meat cook until nice and browned on all sides. I found it works best if you don’t keep stirring it. Let it cook a few minutes and then turn, let it cook a few minutes, turn, until it’s all nicely brown.

Add the meat on top of the vegetables in your pot.

Turn the heat down, add the broth to the skillet along with the mustard, Worcestershire, tamari, sucanat, rosemary and thyme to the skillet, stirring to combine the brown bits in the skillet with all the other goodies until mixed and everything is dissolved off the bottom of the skillet.

Pour this sauce over all the other goodies in the pot. It probably won’t cover everything, that’s okay.

I cooked this on high for 4 hours or you could cook on low for 8 hours. If using the stovetop, medium-low, stirring occasionally for about 4 hours.

Add more salt if needed, stir well and serve with your favorite sourdough bread!

Mango and Quinoa Salad w/Dressing

I made this yummy salad right after the new year because I was craving clean and fresh and I happened to have mangos, which I don’t usually, so what a perfect pairing. Try it out and see what you think. I’ve eaten most of this as a quick meal that’s light, clean and full of flavor. I adapted the original recipe from something I saw on Food52.

Cook the quinoa: In a saucepan bring the quinoa and water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook until most of the water has been absorbed, which takes about 15 minutes. Fluff it up with a fork.

Chop the onion and set aside.

Pit and slice the mangos. Squeeze the mango seeds as there is quite a bit of juice and add to the mangos.

Make the dressing. Whisk the juice, oil, ginger and salt and pepper together.

Mix the quinoa, mango, beans and cilantro or parsley together. Place the greens on a plate, top with the quinoa mixture, add some onions and avocado slices and drizzle with the dressing. Add further salt and pepper if you desire. Enjoy…so yummy!

Liver, Bacon and Potato Sauté

Serves 4

2-3 potatoes, cubed

2-3 tbsp. bacon fat, lard or olive oil

Small onion, chopped

6-8 slices bacon, cut into smaller pieces

1 lb. liver, sliced into thin strips

2 tbsp. unbleached flour

1 tsp. smoked paprika

½ tsp. black pepper

Beef or chicken stock (approx. 1 cup)

Sour Cream or plain yogurt

Parsley

Cube the potatoes. Place in a medium pot of cold, salted water. Bring to a boil and cook 12-15 minutes or until tender. Drain

Heat the cooking fat in a skillet. Add the potatoes and fry them until they have a nice crisp on them. Once done, place on a plate and place in a warm oven.

Place the bacon and onion into the skillet you cooked the potatoes in. Cook until the bacon gets crispy.

While the bacon is cooking, mix together the flour, paprika and pepper together. Place the liver in and give a good toss to coat.

Add the liver to the pan of bacon and onions. Cook for approx. 3-5 minutes, until the liver is done. Add the potatoes and mix well.

I added the broth to the pan and let it cook for a couple minutes until it gets thick and bubbly. You can also remove all the meat and potatoes from the pan and stir in the broth, cook until thick and bubbly and pour over the meat and potato mixture.

Top with a good dollop of sour cream or yogurt and add some fresh parsley to taste.

Steamed Clams and Pasta

Serves 2

8-12 clams of your choice, I used a mixture of little necks and bigger ones

1-2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2-3 cloves minced garlic

1 cup white wine, of your choice

1-2 tbsp. grassfed butter

Pasta, cooked to your liking

Favorite herbs for flavoring the pasta

Put the oil and garlic in a pan big enough to allow the clams to fit in a single layer. Cook the garlic over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the wine and let it cook until it’s cooked down to about 1/2 of the liquid.

Add the clams, cover and cook until they start to open up. This took about 5-6 minutes. Add the butter and cover and continue cooking until the clams open up all the way.

If you have any that don’t open, discard them.

In the meantime, cook your pasta. Save a small amount of your cooking water to add back to the drained pasta, once it’s cooked to your liking.

I added just butter and some herbs de provence and some fresh chives and mixed well.

Place in a serving dish, top with steamed clams and serve with a side salad and crusty sourdough bread.

Enjoy!

(Note: I took a couple beautiful pictures that disappeared from my camera, so I am happy to share this photo which looks similar to what I made which is courtesy of www.restarauntwidow.com)

Egg Drop Soup

Serves 4

1 quart homemade bone broth

3 whole eggs

Pour your broth into a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs.

Once broth comes to a boil, slowly add in the eggs until they stream through.

Serve immediately.

NOTE: There are many options for add-ins, like sliced mushrooms, sliced green onions, corn and peas are great examples. Fresh ground ginger, salt and pepper are also great spice options.

It’s really about what you like and how simple you want to keep this fantastic and nutrient-dense meal.

Chilean Sea Bass

This is absolutely one of my favorite fish of all times. It is however a very rare treat for a couple of reasons.

Recently I decided that it had been at least a year since indulging, I bought a fillet that was a little over a pound and we grilled it up.

Here’s my simple, yet tasty recipe.

1 pound Chilean sea bass fillet

1/8 tsp. lemon zest or you could use lemon pepper

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. paprika

Unrefined sea salt to taste

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons butter

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Mix the first 5 dry ingredients together and rub onto both sides of the fillet.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, add the fresh garlic and just melt the butter. Add the chopped parsley.

On a hot grill, cook the fillets on each side approx. 7 minutes or until light and flaky.

When flipped to the last side, drizzle the butter mixture over the fish.

Finish cooking and serve immediately.

Enjoy, it’s absolutely delicious!

With spring in the air for this part of the world, along comes magic. The grass is greening up, flowers are emerging and blooming and also a lovely vegetable know as asparagus is growing.

Last Spring, I was fortunate to get my hands on a good bit of this and made fermented asparagus, which was delightful and I will be making again.

As I am preparing for a monthly class that I teach, this one is on Soups and Sauces with the premise that they are all made using broth or stock, I came upon this lovely recipe from the Nourishing Broth book and I immediately knew I had to try it.

Go ahead and give it a whirl if it strikes your fancy like it did mine.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until colored about 2 minutes. Add the stock and blend with a handheld blender until smooth. Add the asparagus, bring to a simmer, and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the asparagus is softened. Blend again with the handheld blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes. Stir in the crème fraiche, ladle into bowls and finish with a small drizzle of oil.

Roasted Garlic Soup

Do you ever find yourself perusing recipe books? I think I’m addicting to them. I have a lot. I mean a lot. It’s been a passion of mine for years, so they add up.

Recently I was looking for something different and came across one using garlic and because I know the beautiful benefits of garlic, I decided to give this a whirl. Here’s my version.

Serves approx. 5-6

4-5 nice sized heads garlic (about 10 cloves/head)

¼ cup avocado oil or good olive oil

2 medium size onions, sliced

4-5 tablespoons butter

1 quart chicken bone broth (or vegetable broth)

2 cups raw milk (or coconut milk)

¾ teaspoon each of dried basil, oregano and thyme

Unrefined sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

If I have fresh parsley or chives, I add that at the end as a garnish, if not, no big deal.

The key here is the roasted garlic.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. To prepare the garlic, cut the heads across the middle of the cloves but don’t peel them.

Put the avocado oil in a glass baking dish and place the cut side down garlic in the dish. Cover and roast for approx. 50 minutes and you can smell them and they are starting to brown.

Melt the butter in a larger sized pan and sauté the onion slices until golden in color and translucent. Add the spices and salt and pepper and cook another 2-3 minutes.

When the garlic is done, pick up the tops of the garlic and you should see the garlic pieces sticking to the pan. Add these to the pot of onions. Add the broth and cook on medium low heat for about 15 minutes.

Add the milk and lower the heat and adding small amounts at a time blend in a blender or use an immersion blender and blend until smooth.

Serve immediately. Garnish if you like! I used chives this time!

Yummy! Extra immune booster for sure!

Helena’s Bean Soup

While this soup is really simple, it’s so nourishing, especially on a cold winter afternoon or evening.

Recently my mother-in-law engaged in a conversation about beans. My love of black beans her love of pinto beans. This conjured up fond memories from childhood and so I had to make Black Bean soup, which I shared a couple weeks ago and she made this lovely soup.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we have and please feel free to adapt to suit your family.

1 bag of pinto beans, soaked overnight

1 can of diced tomatoes (or fresh if in season)

1 or 2 carrots, sliced thin

1 quart chicken bone broth

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Drain the beans and add to a larger size pot. Add the remaining ingredients and cook over medium heat until hot. Turn down heat and let it slow cook until you arrive at the consistency you like.

We like ours a little thick!

You could easily add chicken or other meat as you’d like. Beans are an excellent source of protein and fiber.

Waldorf Tuna Salad

Serves 4

6 ounces Tuna

2-3 small apples, chopped

1/4 cup chopped celery (I used fermented Chard Stalks)

1/4 cup raisins

1-2 tablespoons soaked walnuts (optional)

Salad greens

Dressing:

1/4 cup homemade mayonnaise

2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish (we make our own using zucchini)

1/4 cup milk

Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium size bowl, add tuna, apples, celery, raisins and nuts, if using. Mix together. Add the mayonnaise, relish and milk, along with salt and pepper. Mix well.

Serve on top of greens and enjoy!

By using homemade mayonnaise and fermented chard stalks, I just turned a great salad into a live and living powerhouse full of enzymes and probiotics…bonus!

Black Beans and Rice

Serves approx. 8

1/8 cup olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 green or colored pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno, chopped (optional)

1-2 garlic cloves, chopped (more if you like)

2 bay leaves

1 to 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin

1 cup sprouted long-grain rice

2 pounds of soaked black beans (if using canned, drain and rinse)

1-2 tomatoes, chopped (or use a 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes)

1-½ cups water

1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar

Unrefined sea salt and pepper to taste

Over medium heat, in a medium pan, heat the oil and add the onions, peppers, garlic, bay leaves and the cumin. Stir and cook for 6-8 minutes or until the onions and peppers are soft.

Stir in the rice, beans, tomatoes, water, vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Bring this to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for about 40-45 minutes or until the rice is cooked (tender to taste).

A great way to use the leftovers is this. The next morning, scramble some eggs and add some beans and rice to the mixture. You can eat just as is or fill up your favorite sprouted tortilla shell and enjoy a beautiful and healthy breakfast burrito.

Let me know what you think!

Black Bean and Lentil Cakes

Makes 8 cakes

2 tsp olive oil

½ medium onion, chopped small

1 medium carrot, chopped small

3 medium garlic cloves, minced

1 can black beans, 15oz (I prefer fresh soaked beans)

½ tsp cumin

¼ tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp. parsley leaves, chopped

1 ½ cups cooked French green lentils or Beluga lentils

1 tsp rice flour (optional)

1 tsp tapioca flour (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat small sauté pan over medium heat, once hot, add olive oil and onion and sauté until onion softens, about 1 minute, then add carrot and cook 2 more minutes stirring frequently. Then add garlic, stir, and turn off heat. Let cool.

Place black beans in food processor with cumin, paprika, thyme, salt and parsley and process until smooth. Add the onion mixture and lentils and pulse until incorporated. Transfer mixture to a large bowl.

Line a baking sheet with parchment and spray with oil to give a light coating.

Using an ice cream scoop, form into balls and place on baking sheet. (My scoop holds about 1/3 t0 1/2 cup. If you have a smaller scoop that is fine, you will end up with more patties. And if you don’t have a scoop at all, then just form the balls with your hands.)

Press down on ball to form patties about ½ inch high, pinching to close up any major cracks along the edges. If mixture breaks apart too easily, add the flours, and mix again. Repeat until all of the black bean mix has been used.

Place in lower half of oven, this will help the bottoms to brown, and bake for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven and carefully flip patties over with a large spatula, the patties may still be soft, so be careful not to break them. Place back in the oven and bake for 10 more minutes.

I like to serve these with a little basil mixed into some crème fraiche (for the dairy eaters) or my remoulade (fancy name for tartar sauce made with cashew crème). A chipotle mayo could be good, or guacamole seasoned with a little hot sauce.

I made this earlier this week in the crock pot, which was a first for me. Typically it’s cooked on the stovetop and to be really honest, my husband usually makes it. My mother-in-law and my husband are excellent stew makers.

So when I came up with my version, and it’s was family approved, well I’d day we have a winner.

Easy peasy and something you can throw together before leaving for work and come home to a nice hot, healthy dinner.

This version serves 6-8 (adjust ingredients to make more or less)

2 pounds grass-fed stew meat

1 quart stewed tomatoes

1 quart beef stock

4-6 medium size potatoes, cubed

4-6 medium size carrots, sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Place everything into a crockpot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 6-7 hours.

Our family doesn’t can too many foods anymore as there are definitely better ways, in my opinion to preserve foods and make them more nutritious…namely fermenting or dehydrating.

This particular product has been a staple in years past and this year is no exception. My husband Tom and my mother-in-law Helena make a mean soup mix that’s just heaven.

The mixture is really a nice blend of garden veggies. Corn, green beans, carrots, peas, onions, tomatoes or really anything you like. You could add cabbage or in my Mom’s case, she loves to add Lima beans. The choice really is yours.

So to make the soup without this item, you’d just add in whatever fresh or frozen veggies and some jarred tomatoes you have on hand to make a nice blend.

Serves 4-6

1 quart veggie blend

1-2 pounds of fingerling potatoes (or any kind will do)

1 quart of chicken or beef stock

Leftover roast, approx. ½ to 1 pound, if using

2 bay leaves

Seasonings to taste, salt, pepper

Fill a stock pot with enough water to boil your potatoes. If using regular potatoes, wash and cut up into bite sized pieces. If using fingerling, wash and cut any that are a little larger.

Bring water to a boil, add a pinch of sea salt and add potatoes. Cook until just about tender. Drain ¾ of the water off. Add the veggies and tomatoes with juice. Add stock and any meat, if using.

I added a salt blend to the pot along with the bay leaves. Seasoning is totally up to you and what you like.

Turn pot down to low, cover and let simmer together for at least 30 minutes. I prefer a slow cook for at least 60 minutes to allow the flavors to blend and meld together.

Serve with some good sourdough bread with lots of butter. Yum!

Chicken Salad

1 pound of chicken

¼ cup homemade mayonnaise

¼ cup sweet pickle relish

2 stalks celery, chopped

Small onion if desired

Salt and pepper to taste

I use the chicken meat left after I’ve made chicken stock. You can adjust this recipe to accommodate the amount of meat you have or how many you are feeding.

In a medium size bowl, add the chunked up chicken meat, the mayonnaise, pickle relish, diced up celery, onion if using.

Wash tomatoes. Remove stem end and quarter or if using Roma’s, cut in half. Place on a cookie sheet. It should fill the sheet. It won’t be packed but should be relatively full.

Clean onion and cut up into chucks. Place on the cookie sheet with the tomatoes. Spread them around. Next add the peeled garlic.

Drizzle the olive oil over the tomatoes, onions and garlic. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste over all. Place sheet into the hot oven and roast for about 40 minutes. They will be bubbly, steamy and slightly caramelized when done.

Remove from the oven. Place the tomatoes, onions and garlic into a stock pot. Add the butter, broth, bay leaves and stir. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally for about 35-45 minutes until you’ve reduced the liquid by a third.

If using basil, add to the pan now and stir.

If using a blender, pour contents into a blender and blend on medium for about a minute or until well blended. You could also use a submersible blender stick as well. I say, use what you have.

If blended, pour contents back into pan. It should be creamy and fairly smooth.

Add the cream, if using and stir.

If you want to adjust the constancy, more broth can also be added.

Serve with sourdough grilled cheese sandwiches or a great little tip to share is this.

When I warmed up my leftovers, I heated up my waffle iron, sliced sourdough, buttered both sides of the bread, placed on the iron, sprinkled with Asiago cheese and grilled until done. Break up the bread and place on the top of your soup. Yum!!!

If you don’t have a waffle iron, use a good cast iron skillet to brown the bread and melt the cheese or a Panini pan works too. Be creative!

Slice each eggplant into about 6 pieces. They will be about an inch to an inch and a half think. Lightly season each eggplant piece with salt and pepper and put onto the oiled baking sheet. Bake for about 12-15 minutes. The slices will begin to turn a deep brown on the top. Remove the slices from the oven.

Drop the oven temperature from 450 degrees to 350 degrees. In a 9×12 baking dish, place the four largest pieces of eggplant. Evenly space them apart. Over each slice, put about 1/4 cup of your tomato sauce and sprinkle with fresh basil. Then put a slice of mozzarella and then sprinkle with about a teaspoon or so of the Parmigiana cheese mixture. Next put another slice of eggplant and layer again, just like you just did. Repeat again.

Once you’re done layering, sprinkle the toasted bread crumbs over the top of the eggplant layers and bake uncovered until the cheese is melted and the tops turn a nice golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Serve immediately.

NOTE: I used a small cast iron skillet to brown the bread crumbs in. I just popped them under the broiler for a couple of minutes, stirring to evenly brown. It worked beautifully.

Basily Tomato Avocado Salad

As the summer season is starting to wind down and our gardens have produced well, this salad reminds me that there is still time to enjoy some nice tomatoes and basil and what better pairing than with a nice ripe avocado.

24 grape tomatoes, halved

2 medium ripe avocados, diced

Juice from half of a lemon

¼ cup chopped fresh basil

¼ teaspoon minced fresh garlic or garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Mixed greens, for serving

In a large bowl, combine all of your ingredients, mixing well, and gently so as not to mash your avocado.

Serve immediately or refrigerate with avocado pit to keep from turning brown. Serve as is, on a bed of mixed greens or with some crusty sourdough bread for sandwiches.

Original recipe and photo courtesy of Healthy Voyager

Lasagna Cups

For the sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 large onion

1/2 pound lean ground beef, cooked and drained

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1 small zucchini, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-6 oz. can tomato paste

1-8 oz. can tomato sauce {+1/2 can water to wash out can}

1-14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon dried basil

1/2 tablespoon dried oregano

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt & pepper to taste

For the cheese filling:

1-10 oz. tub Philadelphia Italian Herb & Cheese Cooking Cream

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, grated & divided

1/3 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 egg

21 lasagna pasta sheets

Directions: For the sauce, heat olive oil over medium heat and saute onions, peppers, zucchini and garlic until tender, 5 minutes. Stir in cooked ground beef and tomato paste until well blended. Stir in remaining ingredients and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low and cook 30 minutes or so. (The longer it cooks, the better it will taste). This will be very thick.

For the cheese filling, stir all ingredients together excluding half of the grated mozzarella cheese. Set aside.

For the pasta, Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta sheets 2 minutes less than package directions and drain. Place pasta on greased baking sheet until you are ready for assembly.

For assembly, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 jumbo muffin tins with squares of parchment paper. If they don’t stay in on their own, that’s okay, the pasta will help with that. Line the edges of the muffin tins with 1 pasta sheet per cup. (Pasta sheet will overlap about 2 inches). Spoon about ½ tablespoon of sauce into the bottom of each cup. Next cut 9 pasta sheets into quarters and press one of these pieces of pasta into the bottom on top of the sauce. Top pasta sheet with a generous tablespoon of sauce and then a generous tablespoon of cheese filling. Repeat this pasta-sauce-cheese layering one more time being sure to press out any air bubbles. Top these lasagna cups off with a 3rd piece of pasta, more sauce and the remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until everything is hot and bubbly. Serve hot.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together flour, whey, water and egg yolks until a pretty stiff dough forms. Add a little more flour if necessary. Knead in the bowl until smooth and elastic. Cover and let rest for 8-24 hours.
When ready use, roll out, knead the salt into the dough. Separate the dough into three balls. Dust your work space or use a pastry cloth with flour and roll out each ball to approx. 1/8 inch thick. Use a pizza cutter to cut noodles into 1/2 inch strips, or whatever you prefer. I then cut mine in half, so they weren’t so long.

Allow noodles to dry out and rest for about 10-15 minutes. Mine were a bit sticky, so I used a spatula to not mangle them up when removing them from the counter, as I didn’t use a pastry cloth.

To cook, fill a large pot with water or your favorite stock and bring to a boil. Carefully add the noodles to the water and gently stir to prevent them from sticking. Boil for 6-8 minutes until desired tenderness is reached. I cooked mine right in the beef broth that I had left over from the roast the previous day.

Drain and use in whatever recipe you like, stews, soups and stroganoff’s are nice!

Chicken Pot Pie

Serves 4

1 ½ pounds skinless chicken, already cooked from making bone broth

1 cups bone broth

½ teaspoon Celtic salt

¼ teaspoons pepper

1 ½ cups milk

3 tablespoons butter

1 onion, chopped

1 cup chopped celery

1/3 cups spelt flour

2 cups mixed vegetables (carrots, leftover corn, peas)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

½ teaspoon thyme

1 (9 inch) pastry for a single crust pie (see below – using ½ the recipe)

1 pastured egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

In a cast iron skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add the onion and celery. If using fresh carrots, add them too. Sauté, stirring for about 3 minutes. Stir in flour until well blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk. Simmer, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens and boils. Add the chicken, vegetables, parsley and thyme. Pour mixture into a 1 ½ quart deep casserole dish.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Roll out pastry 1 inch larger than the diameter of the casserole dish on a lightly floured surface. Cut slits in the pastry for venting air. Place pastry on top of the casserole. Roll edges and cut away extra pastry; flute edges by pinching together. If you want to decorate the top further, use the leftover scraps. Roll them out, cut into whatever shapes you want and place on the top. Brush pastry with beaten egg and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Let cool for about 10 minutes and serve.

Lard and Butter Pie Crust

Makes 2 pie crusts

2 ½ cups spelt flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

13 tablespoons cold butter, cut into ½-inch cubes

8 tablespoons cold lard

4-6 tablespoons ice water

Directions:

Mix flour, salt and sugar with a pastry mixer or used a food processor.

Cut in butter cubes. Add cold lard and continue cutting in until flour is a pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal with butter bits no bigger than small peas.

Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of ice water over the mixture. With a fork, fluff to mix thoroughly. Squeeze a handful of dough, if it doesn’t stick together; add remaining water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Divide dough into two balls, one slightly larger than the other, and then flatten into about 6-inch disc shapes. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling. Fill with your favorite pie filling recipe.

Healing Chicken Bone Broth

Makes approx. 4 quarts (if cooked once)

1 whole free-range chicken or the bones, fat and skin of 2 chickens

4 quarts filtered water

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Feet from the chicken (optional)

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

2 carrots, coarsely chopped’

3 celery sticks, coarsely chopped

1 bunch parsley

Place whole chicken in the crockpot or place the chicken carcasses in the pot. I use 2 chicken feet per batch, it provides more gelatin.

I then place all the cut up vegetables in. Cover all this with 4 quarts of fresh filtered water, adding in the apple cider vinegar.

Cover and let cook on low for 24 hours. If you’re using parsley, add it about 10-15 minutes before you’re done cooking the stock.

I let this cool and then pour off the stock and strain into clean quart jars.

If you used a whole chicken; clean the meat off and use for soups, casseroles, etc.

If you choose, return the bones to the pot, along with the vegetables, cover with vinegar and water and continue to cook for another 24 hours.

This will produce another batch of broth.

Once done, the bones will be so brittle that they produce bone meal which is excellent spread on your garden and the vegetables can be put to use in your compost pile.

Enjoy!

PS: If you don’t want to make your own, email me, I’d be happy to supply you with the nourishing goodness of bone broth from my kitchen to yours.

Red Lentil Soup

Serves 4:

2 cups Red Lentils

1 Onion

1/2 Butternut squash

1 Carrot

4 cups Vegetable broth

1 tablespoon Paprika

1 tablespoon Salt

Fresh Thyme

1 tablespoon Olive oil

1 Avocado

In a large saucepan, cook the lentils in 4 cups vegetable broth and quartered onion. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and keep the pot over low heat for about 15 minutes.

In another pot, boil the butternut squash and carrot for 20 minutes or until soft. Once ready, add them to the cooked lentils, season with paprika, salt and fresh thyme and process with a hand blender until creamy. Taste and add more salt if necessary.

Serve the soup hot with fresh avocado and a few drops of olive oil for lunch or dinner. This soup is full of vitamins, iron and fiber! Enjoy!